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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: fred1963 on September 06, 2006, 22:35

Title: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: fred1963 on September 06, 2006, 22:35
I have a few series of street shots of interesting people in crowds.  Are these OK to market as editorial shots if they have an explanation of the scene.  Does anyone know the legalities and/or the place to market such shots?
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: berryspun on September 06, 2006, 23:30
When a person can be identified, he/she needs to sign a model release.  To my knowledge Shutterstock is the only stock site at this point which accepts editorial pictures, and they are quite strict about that policy.  There was a post in the forum a while ago about the legality of it, or rather the lack of when there is no MR, and the consequences of it.  Sometimes there are celebrities marked as editorial, so there may be some exceptions to the rule.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: leaf on September 07, 2006, 00:05
if it is a significant event or more than just 'a crowd' shutterstock usually accpets them as editoral
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Freezingpictures on September 07, 2006, 00:51
How does editorial images on SS sell?
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: leaf on September 07, 2006, 00:53
I think they sell similar to other images.

I have a few images at a rodeo that I tried to blur out all the faces but shutterstock changed them to editorial anyhow.  They are selling ok.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Bateleur on September 07, 2006, 00:58
I took a series of shots of a 'fender bender' that happened right beneath me as I was photographing a traffic jam from a motorway (freeway, autoroute, autobahn) bridge.

Shutterstock accepted them as 'editorial' and they sell pretty well. Istock accepted them too, and they don't have an editorial category.

Actually, I think it was the fact that one of the drivers looked up to see what I was doing that was the cause of the accident  ::)  He certainly yelled at me afterwards,  :o
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: grp_photo on September 07, 2006, 15:29
I think its a very, very bad idea to sell editorial through microstock. Most agencies don't accept it and i have never seen an editorial shot at shutterstock in the weekly top 50.
If you do editorial you better go with alamy! You will never have a big sales volume with editorial but if you sell it, its better to get a good price instead of 0.25 Cent.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: leaf on September 07, 2006, 15:58
yeeah, i agree... all my editorial stuff is with alamy
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: beisea on September 21, 2006, 13:16
Out of of my 492 images at SS, maybe 300 is editorial, but they only provide me with less than 10% income, but at least there is one place for my street people pictures:)
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Bateleur on September 22, 2006, 04:44
You will never have a big sales volume with editorial but if you sell it, its better to get a good price instead of 0.25 Cent.

This is an interesting point, an one which has been made by other people. Yes, you only get 25c per sale, but they sell again and again and again.

What's better, a lot of sales at a low price, or 1 or 2 sales at a big price? I have more images with Alamy than I do with either SS or IS. But SS/IS consistently bring in more than Alamy, and some of my images with the micro sites are beginning to bump up against the $100 mark.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: leaf on September 22, 2006, 04:57
well i agree with you partly bateleur, however what i think grp_photo was saying, is that certain images have such a specific buying crowd that you would only ever sell the image 10 times maybe, no matter where it was placed. If the buyer finds it on alamy, you will get paid lots, if the buyer finds it on the micros you will get paid little.. either way, there is only a few people who want the image, so it is good to list it with the macro sites.

On extremely popular shots, then perhaps the 1000's of downloads are possible on the micros.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Bateleur on September 22, 2006, 12:57
... certain images have such a specific buying crowd that you would only ever sell the image 10 times maybe, no matter where it was placed. If the buyer finds it on alamy, you will get paid lots, if the buyer finds it on the micros you will get paid little.. either way, there is only a few people who want the image, so it is good to list it with the macro sites.

Absolutely right Leaf.

But then if you've got that sort of image, something very specific, unusual, rare ... whatever, then I'd say don't try to sell it as RF at all! You're shooting yourself in the foot. Put it on sale as Licenced and you'll get a whole load more for it.

I look at all my images, and the ones I think are unique, with a possible small but specialised customer base, I put up for sale as licenced.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: dbvirago on September 22, 2006, 13:33
Where do you sell your licensed images?
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Bateleur on September 22, 2006, 14:36
Alamy
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Greg Boiarsky on September 22, 2006, 15:27
I would really like to use Alamy, but they seem to require that contributors have a Web site.  Is this true?  If not, how can I register without my own Web site?
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Bateleur on September 22, 2006, 16:01
I would really like to use Alamy, but they seem to require that contributors have a Web site.  Is this true?  If not, how can I register without my own Web site?

No, you don't need a web site with them. What makes you think that?

I don't have one and they accepted me.
Title: Re: Street Shots as Editorial?
Post by: Greg Boiarsky on September 22, 2006, 16:35
The reason that I thought I needed to have a Web site is that it required me to list the URL for a Web site when I tried to sign up.  Perhaps it was because I listed myself as a freelance photographer, but it wouldn't let me sign up as a contributor.  I think I'll try again and report back here if I have problems.

Thanks, Bateleur.

I would really like to use Alamy, but they seem to require that contributors have a Web site.  Is this true?  If not, how can I register without my own Web site?

No, you don't need a web site with them. What makes you think that?

I don't have one and they accepted me.